Shelley Smith Movies
- 1992
Originally made for cable-television, this thriller centers on the attempts of an innocent teenage girl to prove that the boy she has her eye upon is not a ruthless serial killer. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1991
While attending a convention in Las Vegas, Jessica (Angela Lansbury) links up with Susan Hartley (Amy O'Neill), the daughter of her editor Ted Hartley (Bruce Gray). When Susan's boyfriend is accused of murdering a nasty casino manager, Jessica steps in to prove the poor fellow's innocence. In so doing, our heroine places her own life in dire jeopardy. Andrew Brye makes his second appearance in the semi-regular role of Ahmed Shanker. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1988
Carol Burnett makes a return appearance as the redoubtable Susan Johnson, who has given up her career as bank clerk to become a private eye. Much to Magnum's dismay, he learns that he and Susan are working on the same case: to locate the missing will of a man who was killed in a highly suspicious boating accident. As Magnum (Tom Selleck) and Susan wade through a morass of lies and deceptions--most of them perpetrated by the dead man's covetous children--the two P.I.s develop a grudging respect for one another. But Susan is still Susan, and by episode's end she has managed to get herself and Magnum trapped in a deserted warehouse! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1987
After an elderly lady is mysteriously killed upon returning from Australia, the woman's granddaughter shows up with a clue to the crime: a photograph featuring an unidentified man commisserating with Stella Graham (Shelley Smith), an old flame of police detective Hunter (Fred Dryer). Clearly, there's only one thing to do, and Hunter does it. Hopping the first plane to Sydney, the detective heads Down Under to find out if his ex-sweetheart is involved in a murder--and to determine the motive behind it all. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1987
Paroled after 20 years, a convicted murderer (John Glover) returns to his home town of Cabot Cove to find the man whom he thinks actually committed the crime for which he was imprisoned. The trail leads to a local high-school coach (Kenneth MacMillan) on the verge of retirement, and to another man (Dack Rambo) who apparently commits suicide. When this death is ruled a murder, the hapless ex-con is framed a second time, and it is up to Jessica (Angela Lansbury) to figure out who's really responsible for all the carnage. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1986
In order to flush out the person or persons who have attempted to steal a valuable statuette of the Hawaiian god Amakua, Magnum stage-manages a luxury cruise in which all the passenger roster consists of the principal suspects. Sure enough, murder and mayhem quickly ensue, and it soon becomes apparent that a crooked toy manufacturer is at the center of all the trouble. Most of this episode was lensed on location on the decks of the "S.S. Constitution." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1984
The made-for-TV Fantastic World of D.C. Collins is curiously not a pilot film, despite the presence of the principal character's name in the title. D. C. Collins (played by Gary Coleman) is the son of a U.S. diplomat. His own life is deadly dull, so D.C. escapes into fantasy. At various junctures, he imagines himself to be space traveller Dwight Cloudclimber and archaeologist Alabama Smith (these character names are a tip-off to the film's level of wit). Collins gets a chance to act out his fantasies when he becomes embroiled in a real-life adventure involving stolen documents. The eclectic supporting cast includes Jason Bateman, Michael Ansara, and George Gobel! Fantastic World of D.C. Collins premiered February 10, 1984. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1983
First telecast September 23, 1983, For Love and Honor was the opening episode of the same-named TV series. Cliff Potts heads the cast as First Sergeant Gene Allard, assigned to a small "army town." His brothers (and sisters) in khaki include Shelley Smith as medical corps Captain Carolyn Engel, Gary Grubbs as promotion-chasing Captain Steven Wiecek, and Yaphet Kotto as troubled Vietnam vet Sgt. China Bell. Apparently inspired by the 1982 theatrical feature An Officer and a Gentleman, For Love and Honor concentrated more on the "love" angle than the other commodity mentioned in the title. At first, each episode was self-contained; when viewership dropped off, the series was refashioned as a prime time soap opera. By December 27, 1983, For Love and Honor had left the airwaves, another casualty of the ratings wars (the winner in its timeslot was Falcon Crest). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1982
- R
- Add National Lampoon's Class Reunion to QueueAdd National Lampoon's Class Reunion to top of Queue
A high school class reunion turns bloody when a former student seeks revenge on his classmates in this black comedy. That mayhem would strike this 20-year reunion seems preordained, given that the name of the school is Lizzie Borden High. Little did anyone expect, however, that this trouble would come from Walter Baylor (Blackie Dammett), a social outcast who was the victim of a humiliating senior year practical joke. Now, two decades later, Baylor has escaped from a mental institution to kill off his tormenters one by one. Class Reunion was the first produced screenplay by John Hughes, a National Lampoon writer who would eventually find a highly successful career as a writer, director, and producer of teen-oriented movies. His debut was exceptionally inauspicious, however, as the film's uncertain mixture of gore and low comedy was met with critical derision and audience indifference. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gerritt Graham, Michael Lerner, (more)
- 1981
This made-for-TV Amityville Horror knock-off ranks among the more interesting titles from a spate of early-1980s haunted-house efforts. The title abode is the sumptuous new residence of recuperating neurotic rock star Gary Stralhorn (Parker Stevenson), who resides there with his young amnesiac nurse Sheila (Lisa Eilbacher). After a conversation with a mysterious woman (Joan Bennett), Sheila becomes increasingly convinced that she's lived in the house before. Soon, people around her begin falling victim to the malevolent spirit in the house, which seems to be protecting Sheila while guarding its own dark secret. The flamboyant death scenes -- quite graphic for television -- involve breathing mirrors that fire dagger-like shards, willful electrical cables, and a boiling hot swimming pool. Things are nicely wrapped up for the enthusiastically creepy climax, but fans of The Haunting won't be too surprised at the outcome. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
- 1981
A powerful alien sorceress from outer space tries again to commandeer the Earth in this sci-fi adventure. This time she can breath fire, change into a giant, and has a magic fan capable of producing tidal waves. Fortunately, a brave super-hero is there to oppose her and her legion of laser-toting monsters. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1980
David Soul stars in the made-for-TV Swan Song as a former Olympic skiing champ. There is a consensus of opinion that Soul lost the Olympics when he withdrew due to a mysterious, possibly psychosomatic illness. Feeling that he was exploited and misused as an amateur, Soul stages a comeback at age 29, hoping to win the $40,000 Hawaiian Tropic Cup Race. Filmed on location at Sun Valley Idaho, Swan Song features a good performance by Jill Eikenberry as a "ski groupie" and some marvelously photographed downhill sequences. And that's about all there is to recommend Swan Song, which is merely one more of what Judith Crist used to call the "strive and succeed" school of TV movies. One of the three scenarists for Swan Song was future Miami Vice maven Michael Mann. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1980
A big-city blackout galvanizes the plot of the made-for-TV The Night the City Screamed. Recreating recent events in New York City, the film details a crime spree that runs unchecked throughout the darkened metropolis. Mayor Raymond Burr tries to stem the tide of robberies and rapes, even as he labors to becalm the panicky citizens. An all-TV-star cast, including Robert Culp, David Cassidy, Georg Stanford Brown and Don Meredith show up in brief, interlocking vignettes of "fear, panic, greed, hostility, rage and...love" (or so says the film's press kit). The Night the City Screamed was originally telecast December 14, 1980. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Raymond Burr, Robert Culp, (more)
- 1979
The miracle of plastic surgery is the unifying factor for this made-for-TV movie. Three women, all "of a certain age," are having problems with the men in their life. Rich widow Millie Gorman (Janet Leigh) is convinced that her sex appeal has waned along with her looks and youth; bored housewife Sandy McLaren (Loretta Swit) is none too pleased that her husband regards her more as a pal than a lover; and former model Vanessa Wagner (Lee Meriwether) fears that her much-younger sweetheart will begin seeking out a partner his own age. As the story progresses, Sandy gets a breast implant which has precisely the opposite of the desired effect on her husband; Vanessa gets an eye-lift, only to find out that her lover isn't worth the trouble; and Millie suffers the consequences of one too many face-lifts. Mirror, Mirror first aired October 10, 1979, on NBC. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1963
Based upon a novel by Shelley Smith, The Running Man opens at the memorial service for Rex Black (Laurence Harvey), the owner of a small air transport company who is believed to have drowned in a recent glider accident. It soon turns out, however, that Black is very much alive; he faked his death as a means of getting back at the insurance company who denied an earlier claim because he was one day late in making his payment. He has enlisted the cooperation of his wife Stella (Lee Remick) in this scheme. While she waits for the insurance company to approve the claim, he disguises himself, assumes a new identity (that of Charles Erskine, a shoe salesman) and goes to wait for Stella in Spain. Once there, he meets drunken Australian millionaire Jim Jerome in a bar; when Jerome inadvertently leaves his passport at the bar, Rex confiscates it and hatches a new plan to collect on Jerome's insurance as well. In the meantime, Stella has met with insurance representative Stephen Maddox (Alan Bates), who eventually approves her claim. She journeys to Spain, but finds Rex a changed man, and isn't comfortable with either his new personality or his latest scheme. To make matters worse, Maddox shows up. Is it a coincidence or is he suspicious? The rest of the film hinges on the answer to this question, as well as what Maddox's plans are in either case. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Laurence Harvey, Lee Remick, (more)
- 1959
Twelve-year-old Hayley Mills made her film starring debut in the location-filmed melodrama Tiger Bay. Horst Buchholz plays a Polish sailor who, while docked in Cardiff, jealously murders his ex-girlfriend Yvonne Mitchell. The killing is witnessed by Hayley, a lonely, hoydenish preteen whose only interest in the crime is Buccholz' abandoned gun. Hayley picks up the weapon, intending to impress the other kids in town. She succeeds only in attracting the attention of police inspector John Mills (Hayley's real life father), who wants to know where she found the gun and under what circumstances. An experienced liar, Hayley drives the inspector crazy with her fabrications. Sent home with a stern reprimand, Hayley is kidnapped by Buccholz, who doesn't want to kill the child, but doesn't want to be revealed to the police, either. Convinced that Buchholz means her no harm, Hayley offers to help him escape. He returns the favor by rescuing her from a watery grave, at the cost of his own freedom. On the basis of her performance in Tiger Bay, Hayley Mills not only won a special prize at the Berlin Film Festival, but was invited to star in Disney's Pollyanna (1960). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Mills, Horst Buchholz, (more)
